News and Views: 2019–20 Season – Week 13 – 4 February 2020

Results and Tables

Match of the Day was arguably in the B League, where second played third. At kick–off the Nags Head were six points ahead of the Dolphin Dragons, but the Dragons won fairly comfortably to close the gap to four points – and they have two games in hand. All to play for then in the B League promotion race, even though the Waters Green Rams are clear favourites to finish in first place.

Last week we mentioned that there were four teams battling to avoid seventh place in the B League. This week the Plough Horntails secured a valuable victory over the Chester Road Tavern, courtesy of which they jumped from seventh to fifth – leaving the Waters Green Lemmings in the second relegation spot. There are now three teams on eight points, and they each have a game in hand on the Harrington Academicals who are on ten.

Also last week, we suggested that the Broken Cross Club's victory over the Brewers Arms might have been "something of a minor triumph". They would appear to have surpassed that this week however, by defeating the table–topping Sutton Club. This was surely the Result of the Week, and it allowed the Park Taverners to take pole position in the C League with a victory over the King's Gambit.

In the A League, Rushton Diamonds won their second relegation battle in a row, this time over the British Flag. The Diamonds are now level on points with the Weaver; the Flag need at least two wins to catch either of them, and the Weaver have a game in hand (having set the questions this week).

Individual

Most teams seem to have found the Weaver's questions rather tough. There were just three personal bests (take a bow Jeff Corry, Bob Langstaff and Anne Jeater) and no fewer than 30 people failed to better their lowest scores of the season.

Best individual score this week was Alice Walker's 48. There were also three scores of 42 in the A League; top scorer in the B League was Dave Partington with 36, and in the C League only Wendy Brown managed to make 30.

A League

Results

Table

Individual Top Ten

B League

Results

Table

Individual Top Ten

C League

Results

Table

Individual Top Ten

Cars & Van 4U Question Setters' Trophy

For the full spreadsheet, please click here.

Specialist Rounds

General Knowledge Rounds

Overall

Most teams found the Weaver's questions quite tough; only three managed to score more than their averages for the season so far.

The Specialist set were only slightly harder than average, and (according to the spreadsheet) they were reasonably well balanced – the teams going first having a slight advantage. Along with a decent mark for Entertainment, these figures put them solidly in mid–table: 12th out of 26.

The General Knowledge however were among the hardest we've had this season – only the Harrington 'B''s set from Week 10 yielding lower scores. They were also less well balanced, with a distinct advantage to the teams that went "second first". We might conclude that these factors influenced the Entertainment mark, which although it put them 20th (out of 26) in this criterion, contributed to an overall placing of 25th.

According to the spreadsheet, each set favoured the teams that went first – meaning that the apparent biases cancelled each other out. Overall there was a slight bias in favour of the teams that went "second first". On an average team score of 119, the 6% bias might have made a difference of 7 points; this may have been enough to influence the results of two games.

Two of the teams that managed to score more than their average for the season were in the B League, and one was in the A League. Again, this may have influenced the Entertainment marks, which were noticeably lower in the C League – although it doesn't explain why the B League marked lower than the A League.

© Macclesfield Quiz League 2020